In The Barefoot Contessa producer/director Joseph Mankiewicz used the same "prismatic" approach - telling the story of one person from several different points of view - that he'd employed in All About Eve . The film begins at the funeral of Ava Gardner , a former Spanish peasant, cabaret dancer and movie star, who at the time of her death was a full-fledged contessa. Her life story unfolds in flashback recollections from her mourners. Film director Humphrey Bogart recalls how his career was saved when he discovered Gardner on behalf of Howard R. Hughes -like mogul Warren Stevens . Press agent Edmond O'Brien remembers how Ava was wooed and then abandoned by mercurial millionaire Marius Goring , and Italian count Rosanno Brazzi reflects on how he was able to wed the tempestuous Gardner , only to watch his world crumble after revealing on their wedding night that he was "only half a man." Joseph Mankiewicz tends to write about types rather than people, for whom he composes speeches rather than dialogue; the weakest scene involves a lengthy, pointless argument about the despoiling of the environment on behalf of the oil companies. But the stars in The Barefoot Contessa shine brightly, and the Technicolor photography by Jack Cardiff is breathtakingly beautiful. &mdash; Hal Erickson